Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Vote like you have a vagina

Gay people, by not conforming to gender norms, are correctly perceived as a threat to male privilege. Let us not pretend that we seek to change nothing of importance. Social and professional standing, the role of women, marriage and the raising of children are all hugely important. The point, as my late colleague Frank Kameny often put it, is that “We are right and they are wrong.“ In our diverse society, people of every gender, color, orientation, faith, and nationality deserve equal treatment under the law. This most American of goals is a threat to some self-professed patriots, and they are fighting back.

Those who oppose us can prevail if they are not sufficiently challenged. Part of the task is about nuts and bolts like organizing and turnout. A big part, though, is one-on-one conversations in which we not only explain ourselves but connect with people on a human level.

The truth will not win out by itself. We must make our case. The religious right has controlled the debate so effectively that too many people don‘t understand that using the civil law to impose one group‘s religious prohibitions on everyone else would be the opposite of religious freedom.

Turnabout being fair play, women legislators in Virginia and Oklahoma have proposed the Every Sperm Is Sacred amendment, in which ejaculation of sperm anywhere but into a woman‘s vagina is an act against an unborn child. (For biblical support, see Genesis 38: 9-10.) Others would require men seeking Viagra to watch videos on the dire consequences of erections lasting more than four hours.

Activist Toni Broaddus recently posted on Facebook, “I have a vagina and I vote.“